BRINGING CUSTOMERS TO THE &#8220;EDUCATION EXTRAVAGANZA&#8221;

By Carrie Meyers

Our laboratory is one of the very few to have a dedicated Education Department, which consists of a team of educators that work internally to keep employees informed on the latest technology and products, as well as externally to provide in-office trainings and seminars to eyecare practices.

Offering lab tours to our customers has been a longstanding tradition at Pech Optical because it allows us to merge our internal and external educational opportunities. We’ve found that our customer relations are strengthened when the customer has an understanding of our production process and can physically see–and then later visualize–where their work order is on the lens production line. Observing what goes into creating each customized lens provides valuable insight and we always have requests for additional tours.

Creating a New Playbook for 2014

Early in 2014, we took a look at what educational programs we were offering our customers and decided it was time to tweak our strategy.

We knew we would have customers interested in scheduling a tour of our facility, so we asked ourselves, “How can we capitalize on the time our customers spend at our lab by showcasing more of what our Education Department offers?”

We thought about what would be most valuable to our customers and agreed that with full schedules it can often be tough for them to maintain their continuing education requirements. So we figured, “Why not invite our customers to stay a little while longer when they come for a tour and give them an opportunity to earn ABO- and COPE-approved CE credits as well?”

Putting Together an Education Dream Team

We decided to package all of our ideas into one and began to plan for a full day of education at our laboratory – an “Education Extravaganza”! The day has been designed to provide a variety of courses that will be beneficial in helping to address the everyday challenges that our customers face.

Next on our list of things to tackle was identifying who could lead the educational presentations.

By scheduling him to present two different ABO- and COPE-approved courses we are able to cover two important industry issues at this time:

» “Riding the Age Wave”— strategies, training and communication tips for reaching the baby boomer population and how to restore, maintain and enhance their visual needs.

» “Do You See What We See” — based on an extensive study of both the vision care market and the 21st century consumer, this seminar reveals significant changes in the criteria used for making purchases.

In addition to Tim Fortner, we felt our Pech Education team — made up of ABO certified presenters — will be a great compliment to our afternoon of learning. We recently welcomed Karen Michaelson to the Pech Optical team, allowing our lab to expand into a whole new territory. We have been looking for more ways to showcase her skills and introduce her to our customers, so it was an easy decision to team her up with Kathryn Gross-Edelman and Karen Stotz for the Pech Optical educational portion of the day, which will cover topics, like:

» Digital Progressive Addition Lenses

» Customer Service and Positively Dealing with Concerns and Complaints

» Increasing Efficiency to Create the Best Customer Experience

» A Life Changing Aid for Patients who Suffer from Reading Disabilities

All of the classes being offered are ABO approved, including our live lab tour!

The invitations have been mailed out at press time and we’re hoping for a great turnout at our first-ever “Education Extravaganza.” We’ve already received some great responses as well as positive feedback on the agenda for the day. We’re excited to provide our customers with both valuable education and the convenience of accomplishing it within one day.